Deliveries in the first three months jumped 14 percent year on year to 117,300 cars, with March sales up by the same margin, Seat said in a statement.

Demand at Seat has been helped by an update of the Leon compact car released in January and may benefit further from a redesigned Ibiza model which went on sale this month as well as from new SUVs, the carmaker said.

Seat, bought by VW Group in 1986, is the first of VW's five main passenger-car brands to report March sales figures.

Parent VW Group is expected to publish first-quarter sales on Thursday as is its luxury division Audi.